Chapter Text
I was not having a good day.
It started off when a nightmare woke me up at six in the morning. In the dream, I was falling into a dark pit with no end in sight. The air screamed past me as I dropped through endless darkness. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t. I had no control over anything—not my arms, not my legs, not even the direction I was falling. I was holding onto someone and they were holding onto me. I could feel their body pressed against mine, soft hands gripping the back of my shirt. They were whispering something in my ear, I could feel their hot breath against my skin. But with the roar of the wind as we fell, I couldn’t make out a single word.
I’d jolted awake, gasping and gripping onto my sheets for dear life. Sweat rolled down my back as I sat up, running my hands through my hair. I forced myself to take deep breaths, looking around my cabin to get a grip on reality.
It wasn’t real, I told myself. It was just a dream.
Still, the dream replayed in my mind like a broken record. Most of my dreams weren’t normal, I knew that. They were old memories, or signs, or sometimes even glances into things that hadn’t even happened yet. I held on to the hope that maybe, just maybe, it was just some random nightmare. One of those weird subconscious dreams that psychologists study to determine the state of your mental health.
Yeah, maybe that wasn’t a great sign either.
When breakfast finally rolled around, I was the first camper there. When I tell you that I am not sure if that has ever happened before, I mean that. Normally, I stumbled to breakfast straight out of bed with drool still crusted on my face. But today was different. I got my food, gave my sacrifices at the fire, and sat down at an entirely empty dining pavillion.
One of the first campers to show up was Annabeth. She was wearing one of her old camp t-shirts, cut-off denim shorts, and her combat boots as she marched up into the pavilion, holding a ponytail holder in her mouth as she gathered her wild blonde curls above her head.
For some reason, I found myself completely unable to take my eyes off of her. In my defense, Annabeth was a pretty girl and I’m an easily distractible guy. Do not tell her I said that.
When she finally caught my eye, I cleared my throat and dropped my gaze back down to my breakfast. I took a bite of my bacon, pretending to be very interested in it while I listened to her boots crossing the pavilion floor toward my table.
Things between Annabeth and I this summer were, well, complicated. Ever since last summer, since the quest in the Labyrinth, something had changed between us. It wasn’t like we weren’t still best friends, we definitely were. But after everything that happened, especially after that moment on Mount St. Helens, it felt like there was this unspoken tension between us that neither of us really knew what to do with.
Some days it felt like nothing had changed. We joked, argued, and worked together the same way we always had. Other days, we were constantly at each other’s necks. One wrong move from either one of us and all Hades would break loose.
Then there was the kiss. Neither of us talked about it. Not once. It was like we had silently agreed to pretend it never happened. But pretending didn’t make it disappear. If anything, it just made every glance, every conversation, every stupid little moment between us feel way more complicated than it used to.
Please let this be a good day for us, I prayed in my head to any god that may be listening.
“Did you have a dream last night?”
I dropped the piece of bacon at her abrupt statement. Annabeth had this extremely annoying habit of reading me as easily as she reads her nerdy architecture books. I didn’t even look up from my plate. “No, but good morning to you, too, Annabeth.”
She plopped down at my table, causing me to cautiously glance around at the other campers who were trickling in. Technically, we were only supposed to sit at our cabin’s assigned tables, but for some reason, everyone always gave Annabeth a pass. “You are lying.”
“Am not,” I protested, even though I definitely was. I knew Annabeth would try to analyze it, decipher every last detail down to the pitch of wind I’d heard during the fall. It wasn’t worth making her worry, she had enough on her plate right now. We had enough on our plate right now. Whatever my dream meant, it could wait.
Her gray eyes narrowed on me as she bit her lower lip, studying every micro-movement of my face. She shifted her head slightly to the side, and I knew she could see right through me. “At least tell me if it was something I need to know about.”
“It wasn’t,” I promised.
She shot me one last stern look before she just rolled her eyes, reaching over and snatching a piece of my bacon. “Whatever.”
“Hey!” I exclaimed as the corners of her lips began to curve up. “Hands off the bacon, Wise Girl.”
She grinned before putting the whole thing in her mouth, giving the table a pat as she stood up. “I’ll see you at lunch?”
I frowned. “Lunch? You promised we could spar today after I got out of ancient Greek.”
“Yeah, I know. Chiron asked me if I could give a tour to the new kid who just got here this morning. I’m sorry, I was really looking forward to kicking your butt,” She teased before glancing behind her shoulder at the sound of hooves on the pavement. “I think that actually might be them now.”
I followed her gaze over to Chiron and the kid walking beside him. He looked about our age, but he was a big, bulky guy. Even sitting down, I could tell he had a few inches on me. He had curly brown hair, a fresh gash across his cheek, and a smug look on his face as he eyed Annabeth that made me sit up a little straighter.
Chiron smiled and opened his mouth to speak, but the boy spoke up first. He pointed at Annabeth. “I’m new to this thing, but let me guess. Daughter of Aphrodite?”
“Athena,” I corrected him, probably a little too quickly. “Daughter of Athena.”
Both Chiron and Annabeth shot me a look. I gulped, raising my eyebrows innocently and shrugging like I’d meant nothing by it. But come on, daughter of Aphrodite? Annabeth was the farthest thing from that. She had nothing in common with them except…well, looking good.
Wait, I thought to myself. Was he trying to hit on her?
All of the sudden, I wanted to shove him into the lava wall and burn that smirk off of his face.
“It’s nice to meet you, you must be Dean,” She smiled, ignoring me and sticking her hand out. “I’m Annabeth.”
The new kid–Dean, I guess– happily accepted her handshake with a grin.“Nice to meet you, Annabeth.”
“Dean got in late last night and was claimed immediately by his father, Ares,” Chiron explained, patting Dean’s shoulder as he lifted his chin. Annabeth glanced over at me and I knew we were thinking the exact same thing.
Yeah, that checks out.
She put on a big smile. “That means I’ll know which cabin to drop you off at. Are you ready to get going?”
Dean swallowed, eyes trailing down her body as my ears grew hot. “Totally.”
I stood up before I realized what I was doing. I wasn’t letting this kid near her alone. “You know what? I think I’d love to join.”
Chiron furrowed his eyebrows, slowly starting to shake his head. “Percy, I think you have an ancient Greek class to attend. That won’t be necessary.”
Annabeth turned bright red, shooting me a look that was half glare, half what are you doing? She swallowed, tucking a loose curl behind her ear before she spoke. “Come on, Dean.”
The boy quickly followed, jogging to get right beside her as I watched them head out towards the volleyball pit. I heard Annabeth start going into her whole spiel about camp and its history. My stomach twisted as I stabbed my fork into my pancakes. Daughter of Aphrodite. I couldn’t get his smug little smirk out of my head.
“She is very capable of handling herself.”
I hadn’t realized Chiron hadn’t left until he spoke. I couldn’t get myself to look at him, I was too embarrassed about my impulsive self-invite to the tour and too angry at the stupid son of Ares who had the googly-eyes for Annabeth.
“I know that,” I answered, giving my pancakes one more stab to make sure they were dead. “I just wanted to help her give the tour.”
Chiron chuckled. “I didn’t know you had such an interest in tour-giving.”
I glanced up at him trying to suppress a grin, crinkles beside each of his dark eyes. My skin burned with embarrassment as I finally took a big bite of my pancakes. “Well, now you know.”
He just nodded, patted my shoulder, and trotted off back towards the Big House.
I tossed my plate and started toward ancient Greek, because apparently my day wasn’t bad enough yet. I was trying very hard not to think about nightmares, or Annabeth, or stupid Ares kids with wandering eyes. It didn’t really work.
I kicked a rock in my path and thought to myself, how do you say “this day sucks” in ancient Greek?
Because I had a feeling I was about to need it.
—
κακὴ ἡμέρα.
For anyone who is curious, that was the closest translation I got from my textbook in class. Bad day.
As I headed back to my cabin, I tried to focus on how beautiful of a day it was. I couldn’t see a single cloud in the sky and it wasn’t swelteringly hot either for June in New York. I figured that I could maybe go for a swim after sparring to help me calm down. Just something to make my day feel a little bit better.
All of the sudden, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Connor Stoll walking beside me, a sideways grin on his face. “Hey, Percy.”
I furrowed my eyebrows, but tried to give him a smile back. It wasn’t like Connor and I weren’t friends, I guess we were. But not walk-each-other-back-to-the-cabin close. “What’s up?”
He inhaled sharply, shaking his head. “Sorry about that new kid, man. I mean, I think we all hit on Annabeth a little bit, but none of us would ever imagine doing it in front of you. He’ll learn to quit it soon enough. She’d never go for him, anyways.”
My mouth opened to speak, but no words came out. Before I knew it, Connor gave me one last pat on the shoulder before running off with his brother to the Hermes cabin.
I was completely flabbergasted. I just stood there for a moment, trying to process the words he had just said to me. He’d meant well, I could tell by the look on his face. But what part of any of that had been comforting in the slightest?
I mean, I think we all hit on Annabeth a little bit, but none of us would ever imagine doing it in front of you.
People normally hit on Annabeth? The thought made my stomach twist into a pretzel. I’d genuinely never noticed, but I guess that explained the whole “none of us would ever imagine doing it in front of you” part. But why wouldn’t they do it in front of me?
I tried to shake off Connor’s words as I rounded the corner, turning for cabin three when my eyes stopped on the Ares cabin. I stopped in my tracks.
Annabeth was on the porch with Dean, leaning up against the railings. I watched as he laughed, licking his lips before placing one hand by her head and leaning over her. She swallowed, scrunching her nose and tilting her chin upwards.
He said something I couldn’t make out before reaching to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear, moving even closer to her. Annabeth flinched, her upper lip curving upward as her hands balled into fists.
I was going to kill him.
I felt a tug in my lower stomach as I found myself surging forward. She could handle herself, I knew that. But I couldn’t just sit and watch this.
Without warning, the cooler that sat on the porch of the Ares cabin exploded everywhere, soaking Dean and Annabeth with a loud pop.
Oops.
I swallowed as the entire camp went silent, all eyes turning directly towards me. He practically growled, shaking the water out of his hair before storming away into his cabin. Real gentleman-like, I thought to myself. Didn’t even check on her once.
Before I knew it, Annabeth’s fiery gray eyes landed on mine. My stomach dropped as she stormed down the steps of the cabin, making a beeline straight for me. She knew it was me. Everyone knew it was me. What had I just done?
“Look, Annabeth, it wasn’t me–”
She narrowed her eyes, taking her ponytail down before shaking out her soaking wet curls. “Explain what just happened then, Percy!"
I heard some campers snickering behind us and I felt my ears beginning to burn. “I dunno, you are a lot smarter than me! Maybe the pressure or something–”
She scoffed, pushing past me back to her cabin. “Oh right, because water coolers just do that.”
“Annabeth, wait,” I pleaded, grabbing her arm as she whipped back around to face me, stern eyes burning a hole into my soul. “I didn’t mean to, but then he had you cornered and I just snapped.”
“I had it handled,” She stated, crossing her arms across her chest.
“I know that,” I told her much softer this time.
“Then why did you do that?”
I pressed my lips together. I didn’t have an answer to her question, I really didn’t know what I was doing until it happened. I opened my mouth to speak, but found myself just shrugging.
“That’s what I thought. Just forget it.”
Her anger flared, sharp and quick, then faded, replaced by a tight jaw and a slump in her shoulders. Hurt. I swallowed. That look cut deeper than her yell ever could. My lack of an explanation clearly wasn’t enough. She turned to walk back to her cabin, grabbing her shirt and wringing out the extra water. I caught a glimpse of her tan stomach and my brain betrayed me. Focus, Percy.
I ran after her, throwing myself in front of her so she had no choice but to talk to me. “He was being a jerk, Annabeth. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, I really didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”
She snorted, shaking her head as her cheeks began to turn red. “Okay, and? You don’t think I’ve been here long enough to tell who is a jerk and who isn’t? To stand up for myself when some guy is being a douchebag? Believe it or not, Percy, when you are off gallivanting with Rachel, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
Her words stung, but I tried not to show it. “This has nothing to do with Rachel.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying if I don’t get to decide who you hang out with, you can’t decide who I hang out with.”
I scoffed, heat rising in my chest. She couldn’t be serious right now. “So you are telling me, you like Dean? You were having a fun, enjoyable time with him on the porch, and you wanted to keep that little moment going?"
“I’m not saying that I did, but that is for me to decide! Not you!” She yelled, jabbing a finger into my chest like she was aiming straight for the heart.
I glanced around, noticing every eye in sight was locked on us. We were creating a show for all of camp to watch and I didn’t really want to keep the episode running. “Listen, Annabeth–”
“No, you listen!” Her voice cut through the air, loud enough to make my ears ring. “You don’t get to leave camp, run off all of the time, and come back like you own the place!”
“I don’t run off–”
“Yes, you do! Whenever things get real, you run from it, back to the city, back to Rachel–”
“I told you, leave Rachel out of this!”
“Why?” She fired back immediately. “She is where you spend the majority of your time now, and how you spend your time shows your priorities. Clearly, camp and beating Kronos are at the bottom of the list. You’d rather be anywhere but here.”
She didn’t say it out loud, but I knew what she was implying. She feels like she is at the bottom of the list. None of this was about Dean anymore.
“Annabeth, that’s not true!”
“Then prove it!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands up as she kept her stormy eyes locked on mine. “Stay. For once, just stay and act like any of this actually matters to you!”
I let out a hollow laugh. “It does matter to me! I wouldn’t come back if it didn’t matter to me!”
“You would never leave in the first place if it mattered to you!”
Her words felt like a smack in the face. For a few seconds, neither one of us spoke. She pressed her lips together, averting her eyes down to her feet.
“Look,” she spoke again, much quieter this time. “You just don’t understand all that’s coming this summer.”
I stepped closer to her. “Then explain it to me.”
She stared up at me, eyes glossy as her eyebrows tugged together. Something flickered across her face, but this time, it wasn’t anger. It was fear.
“Two months, Percy. That is all we have until you-” She cut herself off, lower lip quivering. “Before your sixteenth birthday.”
I frowned, guilt building in my stomach at pleading sound of her voice. “Annabeth–”
“Maybe instead of worrying about who I’m talking to,” She said, her voice sharp again but not quite as steady, “you should worry about staying here long enough to actually help. I know this is hard for you, I get that. But this prophecy doesn’t just affect you, it affects all of us. Some of us have a war to plan and a world to save. So, whenever you decide to finally put your big boy pants on, you are more than welcome to join us.”
I felt like I’d been hit with a bus. I opened my mouth to reply, but my throat felt so dry I couldn’t speak. I wanted to snap back, to defend myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to. She was right. Somehow, she was always right.
She studied me for a second, tightening her jaw before turning to walk away. She’d gotten the reaction she wanted. She wanted to hurt me like I’d hurt her. Mission accomplished.
This time, I finally let her walk away.
“Do you want to spar after lunch instead then?” I yelled at the back of her head, but she didn’t even make an effort to acknowledge me.
I stood frozen as I watched her slam the door to her cabin, the sound echoing louder than it should’ve. My stomach twisted, this awful mix of anger and guilt settling in like I’d swallowed a brick. I wanted to go after her, apologize, explain, fix it, but I knew I’d just make it worse. Somehow, I always did.
I dragged in a breath and looked around. The entire camp had stopped. Not just a few campers, but everyone. All of them were staring straight at me like I’d just put on the world’s worst live show. A couple of Hermes kids were whispering, probably already taking bets on how long it would take for me to mess things up even more.
My face burned as I shoved my hands in my pockets and forced myself to start walking back toward my cabin, trying very hard not to make eye contact with anyone.
κακὴ ἡμέρα. Yeah. Definitely a κακὴ ἡμέρα.